Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1887-10-20
ANOTHER HOLOCAUST.
a Rear End Collision ON the Chi.
cago & Atlantic Railroad.
An Exprsss Train Telescoped BY . Heavf-
N-Loaded Freight, Resulting I'm Fearful
Loss Of Life-Msny Of tho Victims
Slowly RoAstsd to Death.

an 6APF0ss 1rahn Tei0scOpo0 by Hcavf-
E-Loaded Freight. Resulting I'm Fearful
Loss ofLifs-Many Of tho Victims :.
Slowly RoAsted to Death.
KoUTs, Ind, Get, 12-Erie express No.
IL pulled out OF the Polk street depot on
the Chicago & Atlantic railway, in Chi.
cago, at q quarter to eight o'clock Monday
evening. Conductor Parks was In charge,
and Engineer O'Connor and Fireman
Willstts were in the locomotive. The
train was made up of two Pullman Sleep
ers, o day coach, fruit and baggage car.
The night was dark and misty and the
rails slippery.
The train had been out of Chicago but
. few minutes when Engineer Conner
discovered his engine had broken her &C.
centric strap. As this mishap is of fire.
aquent occurrence, Conner continued on
bis tripb working one side Of his loco
motive. The mishap lessened the speed
OF the train to such an extent that when
at swept by Boone Grove, dismal prairie
station five miles west of this place, it
was two hours late.
While the train was running through
this bleak strip of country heavy refrig-
orator train, with tons of fresh meat
packed in its long line of cars, was thun-
dering along at great speed a few miles
behind. John Dorsey was engineer of the
freight engine, and, it is said, had
orders to look our for the passenger
train. After passing Boone Grove
Engineer Conner stopped his train at a
water tank two and one-half miles west
OF this village, or midway between here
and Boone Grove. As soon as he had
teaped from his engine he threw up the
distant semaphore lamp, nearly half a
Ia -, so H. 81 h.
freight that the express had stopped for
water. He had not been at the tank more
than two minutes when he heard the
freight laundering behind.
The grade at this point is very steep
and with slippery rails q heavy train runs
at furious rate. It was too late to warn
the train which was sweeping along at a
tremendous speed. Engineer Dorsey had
failed to see the big light, and his locomo-
tive tore through the fog and mist until it
crushed into the rear Pullman coach.
Before the collision occurred Dorsey and
his fireman saw the lamps burning on the
doomed train, but too late to avert the dis
aster. The two men leaped from their
cab and::the crash came. The engine of the
freight plunged so far into tho rear Pull
man that its upper works dropped off in
the center the coach. The conclusion
drove the second heavy sleeper into the
day coach, which was reduced to splinters.
The platforms of every car were torn
away and thus wrecked. The ends of
each coach were broken like egg shells.
The cars of the freight train were hurled
In every direction. The upper works of
the engine were torn away and the tender
thrown across the track, and piled up for
twenty rods about the prairie were thou
sands of pounds of meat.
There were Baker improved heaters on
the express train, but notwithstanding
this supposed improvement over the dead
dy stove. the Goals in the heater set fire to
the upholstery of the rear Pullman, and
in five minutes a flame, which at first was
scarcely larger than q ribbon, spread into
a brisk blaze, and soon enveloped the
shattered coaches and their screaming oc-
seupants. The light from the fire illumi-
mated the sky for miles around, and
startled the farmers who had not yet re-
tired.
Meantime the crews Of both trains, who
had escaped with but slight injuries, wer g
hard at work dragging the helpless pas
sengers from their blazing prisons. Nearly
all were found to have been hurled to the
front ends Of the coaches, where they were
pinned and crushed by the heavy timbers
=and irons of the platform. One man, the
head of a Bohemian family Jay between the
and the day coach. A brake
rod had been driven through his neck, and
thus impaled he persisted, while his family
lay writhing in frightful agony beside
him.
The train men set aboutitheir work with
will. There was water close at hand
and it was dashed into the cracking
mass.
The railway officials claim that there
were but twenty passengers on the train;
but the men who stood about the track
declared that the screams and appeals for
mercy came from double that number of
Ncman beings.
The Pullmans, although the first to re-
ceive the shock, did not leave the track,
but burned where they stood. So far as
known not a life was lost in these coaches,
and although they were hurled one upon
the other, all escaped through the win
dows before the flames burst through the
flooring.
1t was in the day coach that the slaught-
ar occurred. This frail box was smashed
to atoms and the heavy roof sprang into
the air and then came down upon the
score or more of human beings who were
pinned between the seats.
koUrs, Ind, Oct. 12.-There was Boz
hemian family named Miller in this ill
fated coach. They were from Dundee, Ill,
and all were en- route for Hungary. The
father, mother and two daughters sat
cas-d-cts. Behind the parents were their
two sons. When the heavy Pullman
drove the day coach against the baggage.
car the entire family were hurled over
the seats and driven between the ends
OF the two cars. The flames moved
up from behind with fearful rapidity. The
father and husband lay dead with an iron
rod through his throat but the rest of the
unfortunate family were still alive when
the train men sought to rescue them.
Every thing was done to drag the children
from the pile, but without avail. The
fire crept nearer and nearer, until
finally the cushion Of q seat blazed
up just above the woman's head.
The poor creature tried to speak,
but no intelligable sound escaped her lips.
Then she attempted to pass one Of her
girls, wee mite of q thing, whose white
apron was stained with blood, to the res
cuers, who were crowded about the terri
BILE scene. When the woman saw that
death was inevitable she closed her eyes
as il in prayer, and wrapping her only
free arm around the waists of the chsl-
dren lying nearest her, awaited the com.
ing of the flames.
From this unfortunate family but one
member escaped alive. He was one Of the
sons, Herman by name, a bright lad of
fourteen, who managed to break out of the
furnace just as his parents persisted. The
crushed about the head, and it is thought
oe can not live till morning.
A niddle-aged Irish lady, who was in
l. Il 4. 4 H.